(a) An authorizer shall continually monitor the performance and legal compliance of the public charter schools it oversees, including collecting and analyzing data to support ongoing evaluation according to the charter contract. Every authorizer shall have the authority to conduct or require oversight activities that enable the authorizer to fulfill its responsibilities under this chapter, including conducting appropriate inquiries, financial reviews, audits, and investigations, so long as those activities are consistent with the intent of this chapter and adhere to the terms of the charter contract. Upon the request of its authorizer, each public charter school shall provide to the authorizer full access to its fiscal and accounting books, documents, and files.

Terms Used In Hawaii Revised Statutes 302D-17

  • Authorizer: means an entity established under this chapter with chartering authority to review charter applications, decide whether to approve or deny charter applications, enter into charter contracts with applicants, oversee public charter schools, and decide whether to authorize, renew, deny renewal of, or revoke charter contracts. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 302D-1
  • Board: means the board of education. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 302D-1
  • charter: means a fixed-term, bilateral, renewable contract between a public charter school and an authorizer that outlines the roles, powers, responsibilities, and performance expectations for each party to the contract. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 302D-1
  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
  • Governing board: means the independent board of a public charter school that is party to the charter contract with the authorizer that:

    (1) Is responsible for the financial, organizational, and academic viability of the charter school and implementation of the charter;

    (2) Possesses the independent authority to determine the organization and management of the school, the curriculum, and virtual education;

    (3) Has the power to negotiate supplemental collective bargaining agreements with exclusive representatives of their employees and is considered the employer of charter school employees for purposes of chapters 76, 78, and 89; and

    (4) Ensures compliance with applicable state and federal laws. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 302D-1

  • Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
  • public charter school: refers to those public schools and their respective governing boards, as defined in this section, that are holding current charter contracts to operate as charter schools under this chapter, including start-up and conversion charter schools, and that have the flexibility and independent authority to implement alternative frameworks with regard to curriculum, facilities management, instructional approach, virtual education, length of the school day, week, or year, and personnel management. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 302D-1
(b) Each authorizer shall annually publish and provide, as part of its annual report to the board and the legislature, a performance report for each public charter school it oversees, in accordance with the performance framework set forth in the charter contract and § 302D-16. The authorizer may require each public charter school it oversees to submit an annual report to assist the authorizer in gathering complete information about each school. The annual report may include the status of the charter school’s compliance with annual performance targets, as determined by the charter contract.
(c) In the event that a public charter school’s performance or legal compliance appears unsatisfactory, the authorizer shall promptly notify the public charter school of the perceived problem and provide reasonable opportunity for the charter school to remedy the problem, unless the problem warrants revocation in which case the revocation time frames set forth in section 302D-18 shall apply.
(d) Notwithstanding section 302D-18 to the contrary, every authorizer shall have the authority to take appropriate corrective actions or exercise sanctions short of revocation in response to apparent deficiencies in public charter school performance or legal compliance. Such actions or sanctions may include, if warranted:

(1) Requiring a school to develop and execute a corrective action plan within a specified time frame; and
(2) Reconstituting the governing board of the charter school; provided that the following conditions are met:

(A) Reconstitution occurs only under exigent circumstances, including the following:

(i) Unlawful or unethical conduct by governing board members;
(ii) Unlawful or unethical conduct by the charter school’s personnel that raises serious doubts about the governing board’s ability to fulfill its statutory, contractual, or fiduciary responsibilities; and
(iii) Other circumstances that raise serious doubts about the governing board’s ability to fulfill its statutory, contractual, or fiduciary responsibilities;
(B) The authorizer shall replace up to, but no more than, the number of governing board members necessary so that the newly appointed members constitute a voting majority in accordance with the governing board’s bylaws; except that the authorizer may replace the entire governing board if the alternative is the initiation of revocation of the charter school’s charter contract and the governing board opts instead for reconstitution; and
(C) Reconstitution occurs in accordance with processes set forth by the authorizer that provide the charter school’s personnel and parents with timely notification of the prospect of reconstitution.
(e) The authorizer shall have the authority to direct the governing board and the charter school to take appropriate action to immediately address serious health and safety issues that may exist at a charter school in order to ensure the health and safety of students and employees or mitigate significant liability to the State.

The board shall have the authority to direct the authorizer to take appropriate action to immediately address serious health and safety issues that may exist at a charter school in order to ensure the health and safety of students and employees and mitigate significant liability to the State.

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